Life in Amersham

Page Index

CLICK ON THE ARROWS BELOW TO HEAR SHORT RECORDED MEMORIES

Audrey Gurney

Audrey has lived in Amersham all her life and went to Dr Challoners when it was co-ed. She and her husband, who worked for Woodleys, built their own house in Chesham Bois. She tells of wartime bombing, prisoners of war and a murder in the woods.

Brian Brown

Brian’s family came to Amersham when he was three and he went to Black Horse Bridge School. He tells of work as a delivery boy and helping his father work on sewers for Metropolitan Railway Country Estates. After Navy service, he qualified as a bricklayer and was involved in a variety of projects. He is now Chairman of the local Royal Naval Association.

Sylvia Dollemore

A resident of Chesham Bois since 1948, Sylvia attended Dr Challoners school when it was co-ed. She recalls cycling everywhere and it not being a problem as it can be today. Sylvia remembers Chesham Bois when it had more shops and there was not always the need to go into Amersham-on-the-Hill.

Janet Brown

Janet moved to Amersham at the start of the war to work for the Physiotherapy Society which had relocated from London, living at the White House in Church Street. In 1942 she became a local land army girl working for Dr Johns on his land in Old Amersham. Janet was paid 45 shillings a week and loved it!

Peter Viney

Richard Hardy

Richard Hardy, known by many as Dick Hardy, has had an illustrious career on the railway. He first fell love in with trains as a child, watching them at Amersham station in the 1930s. He was an apprentice in Doncaster and 40 years later was a divisional manager for British Railways. He has written extensively on the railway and his own memories. He created a unique and valuable collection of photographs of railwayman from the 1930s onwards.